Finding the balance between kale and cookies.

The King of Pancakes

A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Celiac’s disease and was pretty bummed out about all of the things she can no longer eat. I of course felt terrible because we’re both such foodies. I made a joke about how I would eat bacon with every meal and justify it by saying that it’s gluten free. That conversation is what inspired this post. I couldn’t imagine living a life without the occasional short stack of fluffy pancakes.

Since no pancake breakfast would be complete without maple syrup and bacon, I thought I’d make it easier for you and just combine the two. You can thank me later for all of the time I saved you now that you don’t have to dip your bacon in syrup anymore. We’re also going to top our pancakes with bananas because that’s what Elvis would have wanted.

Since I know almost nothing about gluten free cooking, I picked up this really great pancake mix made by Bob’s Red Mill (this is not a paid advertisement. I don’t know Bob and he doesn’t know me). I’m sure that if my little grocery store carries it in their rather pathetically tiny gluten free aisle then yours does too. I doctored up the mix a bit by adding cinnamon and dark rum to give it a little kick. I was amazed at how fluffy and tender the pancakes turned out. I was afraid that they would taste “healthy” but they tasted a lot like Bisquick. The only thing I missed about regular pancake mix was the saltiness. Bisquick has an indistinguishable salty quality that balances out the sweetness. I think it’s essential to a quality pancake. However, once I tasted it with the bacon maple syrup, there was no need for added salt.

Gluten Free Banana Pancakes with Bacon Maple Syrup

Serves 2

Bacon Maple Syrup

Ingredients

2 strips of thick sliced smoked bacon

1/2 cup real maple syrup, don’t use that fake stuff!

reserved bacon drippings

Preparation

1. Cook the bacon over medium heat until it’s very crispy. You don’t want there to be any soft sections. Place the cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate and blot away the grease.

2. Spoon off half of the bacon drippings and discard. Pour half a cup (or more) of maple syrup into the pan you made the bacon in. Stir the bacon drippings and syrup together and keep the heat as low as it can go.

3. Once the bacon is cool, dice the bacon and stir into the syrup mixture. After the pancakes are ready, pour the syrup into a gravy bowl or syrup canister and serve.

Gluten Free Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of your favorite GF pancake mix. I like Bob’s Red Mill

1 t ground cinnamon

1 t dark rum

1 Large Egg

3/4 c milk. I used buttermilk because I’m old school, but milk alternatives will also work.

2 bananas

Pam nonstick spray, for greasing the skillet

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups of pancake mix into a large mixing bowl. Stir in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Vigorously whisk the rum, egg, and milk in a separate bowl. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are wet. I felt like my mix was too dry so I added 2 additional tablespoons of buttermilk.

2. Spray a skillet with nonstick spray and turn the flame on medium-high. Once the skillet is heated, use a dry 1/4 cup measure to scoop out pancake batter. Flip the pancakes when the edges are bubbly and the bottoms are golden brown. Please note that it is completely normal for gluten free pancakes to take longer to cook than traditional pancakes.

3. Once the pancakes are all cooked, stack them as high as you like and top with copious amounts of bananas and bacon maple syrup. Enjoy being sinful while still maintaing your gluten free lifestyle!

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4 thoughts on “The King of Pancakes”

Wow, this looks amazing!!! You know I’m gonna try this! I love everything about this recipe, you know me so well!! How about I have you guys over for breakfast after I’m sure that I like it? I absolutely love you for finding and posting this for me, yay!! xoxoxo

Yes, Bob’s Red Mill Pancake Mix is probably the easiest to find. I’ve been able to find it just about everwhere in New England/Northeastern US. Bisquick also makes a gluten free pancake mix. If your local grocery store has it, it will be in the regular isle along with the non-gluten-free bisquick. I love buttermilk pancakes, so I adapt my gluten-free pancakes with buttermilk – just like I would the non-gluten-free ones 🙂 You can also make your own pancake mix – 4 cups gluten free flour blend, 2 TBSP baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup shortening – blend shortening into dry ingredients with a hand mixer until no clumps are left. I’ve made up and adapted lots of gluten-free recipes. It took some experimenting in the beginning. I like to adapt famous resteraunt recipes to gluten-free. Baked goods can be very tricky – muffins are the easiest to adapt gluten-free. Bread is by far the hardest. If you ever want someone to bounce gluten-free ideas off of you can contact me through my blog (or facebook or twitter) anytime! My hubby is a little upset because I’ve abandoned cooking now that it’s nice outside 😉 lol Well, I haven’t completely abandoned cooking, but I’m thinking grilling and picnics these days!